Wonders of Tea

With tea being a source of caffeine its often asked whether its safe to drink tea in pregnancy.  Although the levels of caffeine in tea are much lower than in coffee (half in some cases) the delicate balance required for a babies safe development can all to easily be interrupted.  Never one to shy away from answering a question I decided to do some homework and here’s the facts…

Although previously it was seen as preferable to cut caffeine entirely this was only due to a lack of studies and so scientists erred on the side of caution.  However, there’s increasing evidence that moderate caffeine intake is safe for your developing baby.

Moderate caffeine intake is about 6 cups of black tea per day.

However, It’s often difficult to get an accurate handle on how much caffeine is in each cup of tea or coffee so the above may not be 100%.  If you want to be completely safe then there’s a variety of other paths to take…

Green tea contains much less caffeine than black tea and so you’ll be safe drinking more.  The average amounts of caffeine in various teas is:

• US Tea (black): 40mg
• Imported Tea (black): 60mg
• Green Tea: 15mg

So unless you have a severe addiction to green tea and can go through 10 cups per sitting – you should be completely safe drinking green tea during pregnancy.  In fact it could be beneficial to your baby with a selection of powerful antioxidants.

Alternatives

Decaffeinate

When it comes to tea I’d recommend decaffeinating it yourself rather than getting the decaffeinated variety as they use powerful solvents to ‘wash’ the leaves of the caffeine and although no health risks have been associated with this I think its safe to say that washing with water is much better.

So to get caffeine out of your tea simply steep the tea in warm water for 30 seconds before making your proper cup of tea with it.  Caffeine ‘leeches’ out quicker than the flavour so this is a good way to DIY decaffeinate your tea during pregnancy.

Herbal

You could also go down the herbal tea route.  Before dismisisng this because none of the varieties are your beloved tea I’d give them a try because I’ve often found a huge variety of nice fruity teas this way.  It opens whole new avenues for you.

Bad Herbs

What you don’t want to do is replace your tea during pregnancy with a much worse herb or tonic.  So plants such as ephedra (ma huang), cohosh and mugwort are best left on the shelf.  You should be fine with fruit teas though.

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Deadly Typhoo

Really – it is capable of killing you.  Its easy to miss facts like this when so many articles and magazines are telling you that tea is tantamount to the elixir of life.  Unfortunately not so for Typhoo tea.

But first some background…

Typhoo was a brand established and ‘raised’ in the UK form 1903.  It was a Birmingham based grocer John Sumner Jr. who decided to introduce a tea made of leaf fannings due to its supposed ‘calming affect’.

Little did John Sumner Jr. realise that 105 years later in a town just south of Birmingham a gentleman tea fanatic would be drinking a cup of his brew – thinking it was the much superior Yorkshire – only to discover it was the inferior Typhoo.  At that moment a shocked breath caused a mere drop of Typhoo to enter the lungs of said gent and cause a coughing fit the likes of which no one had ever seen.

Typhoo, my dear readers, is the most fatal of the teas and must be avoided at all costs!

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Assam

It’s been almost 12 months since my last introduction to teas from around the world but much has happened since then and I should now be able to continue the series with grace, regularity and consistency.

So lets get on with it and today I’ll be discussing Assam.

Assam Tea Located in India

Similarly with my previous post introducing Darjeeling this tea is from a region in north west India by the name of Assam (see map for details).

Flavour
Assam is a black tea which has a malty and full bodied texture with a strong flavour.  It’s often the main component of Breakfast Teas due to its robust flavour and higher caffeine content.

A Little Known Fact
Assam tea was originally chewed by locals as well as drunk – although not as common since commercialisation.

Assam Born
It is the region of Assam along with China that were the cradles of traditional commercial tea production and so it has a long and prestigious history. The Assam cultivation industry sprang forth in 1838 when 350 lbs of tea were imported from there into London to be sold at the London India House. It was such a popular success that Charkes Bruce began clearance of jungle for the new tea plantations.

Assam Gold Rain Black Tea

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